School exam blunder

PUBLISHED: 02:42 25 January 2007 | UPDATED: 10:31 24 May 2010

PUPILS in Worle had a shock when they were given just two days' notice to take an AS level exam due to 'an administrative error'. Youngsters from Priory Community School received a hand-delivered note on Saturday morning (Jan 13) saying the critical think

PUPILS in Worle had a shock when they were given just two days' notice to take an AS level exam due to 'an administrative error'.Youngsters from Priory Community School received a hand-delivered note on Saturday morning (Jan 13) saying the critical thinking exam they had expected to take on January 25 had been moved to Monday.Headteacher Ron Richards says he takes full responsibility for the mistake which affected 18 teenagers.A concerned parent contacted the Weston & Somerset Mercury to say how annoyed they are about what has happened.They said: "When we came back from town on Saturday at lunch time we found the note saying that due to a mistake the exam was on Monday."Most of my son's notes were in school and the school was closed."He has been studying for nearly 18-months for this exam. The school has apologised but said it couldn't change the date."I would imagine some kids may have gone away for the weekend and may not have found out about the change until Sunday night."Mr Richards says he has apologised to pupils about the error and would be talking to parents as well.He said: "This was an administrative error. The exam board won't be aware of the issue yet but we did give the pupils the wrong date."It is a mistake on our part and I will be honest about it. But we are dealing with it."I accept full responsibility as the headteacher."I am sure the exam board will take the error into consideration and there are re-sits in May and June."A spokesman for exam board OCR said: "Any allowances have to be formally requested by the school for candidates as the teachers know the circumstances."We would have to take individual pupils and look at each case.